Chapter 2: The Man in the Pool
"Wow, mom, these are really good." I complimented, as I savored the deliciousness of my chocolate chip pancakes.
"I know!" She giggled. "I'm such a kick ass chef."
We both laughed as we stabbed our forks into a another morsel.
"Hey! Why didn't you guys tell me you had chocolate chip pancakes!" Matt whined when he finally appeared in the kitchen. "Where's mine?"
"We ate them all." Mom and I laughed wickedly.
"W-what?" Matt whimpered, his heart shattering to pieces. Tears began to glisten in his brown eyes.
"God, Gremlin, don't cry!" I groaned, rolling my eyes at my silly little brother. "We hid a couple in the microwave."
"Yes!" Matt yelled, bounding halfway across the kitchen to his beloved pancakes.
After breakfast, mom and Matt left. I did my usual routine. I cleaned up the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher, deleted the twenty new e-mails from my stalker, watched TV , there was absolutely nothing on so I quickly got bored with that. I looked out of one of the living room windows at the pool. "It's still kind of early, but I think it's warm enough." I thought aloud. I went and put on my turquoise one piece bathing suit. I couldn't find my skull and crossbones bikini. Ah man! That one was my favorite! I searched for it for about half an hour before giving up. I pulled my unruly hair into a ponytail. I grabbed the novel I was working on and my favorite old Little Mermaid towel, and slipped on a pair of flip flops. Then I ran out to the pool.
I laid out in one of our white pool chairs, reading my book. It was one of those cheesy teen romance novels. They're incredibly lame, but for some reason I like them. I was really enjoying the hot sensation of the sun on my skin and the gentle breeze that lightly caressed my cheek and blew a few of my loose curls around my face. Suddenly, my peaceful mood was disturbed by my ring tone. I looked over at the chair next to me, where I had all my stuff piled. There, lying on my towel was my cell phone. My eyes narrowed in confusion as I looked at it. I didn't remember bringing it with me. I picked it up and hesitantly answered. To my relief, it was just my friend, Julie.
"Hey!" She greeted in her high pitched voice.
"Hi Julie. How are you?" I asked, relaxing a little.
"What're you up to?" She asked.
"Just laying out by the pool." I answered.
"Cool! Do you mind if I join you?"
"Not at all." I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Awesome! I'll be there in like two minutes!" She squealed and hung up.
Always fashionably late, Julie arrived twenty minutes later. Her boyfriend, Kyle, dropped her off in his brand new red mustang. I hadn't seen her since we graduated from High School a couple of weeks back. We weren't as close as we once were, but that had nothing to do with us growing up. We used to like the same stuff, we liked watching horror flicks and detested chick flicks. We were both in the art club since our freshman year of high school, we liked to poke fun at the popular girls, we even used to stay at each other's houses every single weekend. However, that had all changed when she started dating back in her junior year. Suddenly she became a boy obsessed, too into her looks, chain smoking, alcoholic cheerleader. Exactly the kind of person I hated most, but out of the hope that she'd one day wake up and go back to her old self, I stuck by her. Although, we didn't hang out nearly as often. I didn't want to be involved with some of the things she'd gotten herself mixed up in.
She came to the pool in a tiny hot pink string bikini and a pair of short shorts with the words "Daddy's Girl" written across the butt. She took off her shorts and sat in the chair next to me. She started jabbering about Kyle as she rubbed sun tan lotion all over herself. "So I've been thinking about dumping Kyle. I've been seeing Travis for a couple of months now and Kyle just can't get the blood pumping anymore. You know what I mean?" She looked at me and laughed. "Oh yea, you wouldn't would you."
She pulled her now bleach blond hair up in a ponytail and laid back in her chair. After a few minutes, she pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit up. I started chocking on the putrid smoke billowing from her lips. "Put that out!" I yelled, still hacking up my lungs.
"What? You want one?" She laughed, mockingly.
I snatched the cigarette from her and snubbed it out on the deck.
"Hey!" She whined.
"I've told you before not to smoke here. I can't stand that smell."
"Whatever." She chuckled, rolling her blue eyes.
"You know you really shouldn't smoke. Those things will kill you."
"Come on! You're starting to sound like me mom!" She groaned.
I shook my head and looked away from her, biting my lip to keep from chewing her out.
"You seriously need to get laid, Stella." She said, taking a flask from her purse. She unscrewed and top and took a swig.
The strong scent of Vodka, smacked me in the face. "Oh my god! I hissed, jumping to my feet. I grabbed her stuff and shoved them at her. "Get out!" I shouted.
"What is your problem?!" She huffed.
"Take your drunk ass somewhere else, Julie!" I picked up her shorts and threw them at her.
"Fine!" She retorted. She tossed her hair and staggered away.
I stared after her for a moment, my heart racing and my hands clenched into fists at my sides. My whole body burned with rage and angry tears stung my eyes. How did my friend get so screwed up?
The heat was making my tear stained cheeks burn so I took a deep breath and did a cannon ball into the pool. Beneath the surface, I opened my eyes and looked around. That's when I saw him, the dead guy in my pool.
He was floating around the bottom, his shoulder length brown hair waved gracefully in the water around his head. He was wearing dark washed jeans, a gray t-shirt and a pair of boots. A silver cross floated at his chest. Where had he come from? Did he fall in? Who was he? I wondered all at once. My brain was working over time trying to make sense of what I was seeing. As I stared in horror at the drowned corpse, his eyes popped open. His red eyes!
I screamed, without thinking where I was and I gagged on water. The corpse's lips twisted into a fanged smile. I broke for the surface. I kicked my legs as fast as I could, my arms reaching for the glimmer of sunlight above. Just as my arm was out of the water, I felt something grab my leg. I looked down to see the corpse, this red eyed devil holding me there beneath the water, his mouth was open in laughter, his hair writhed as if it were alive. I reached for the sun, but it was useless. The devil was too strong for me. Inch by deadly inch he pulled me further into the underworld. Slowly, the edges of my vision began to blur and darken. My lungs ached for breath. And all I could hear was the thudding of my dieing heart. B-bump…b-bump….b-bump………Silence.
Author's Note: What do you think of it so far? Is there something that you think I should change about it? Do you have any questions? Do you just want someone to talk to? Leave a review! Or if you want you can send me a private e-mail! I'd love to hear from you!